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Rachel Beresin
Professor Chris Matusiak
Shakespeare
12 April 2015
As You Like It: A Feminist Play
Feminism in Shakespeares era was an entirely different
subculture than the third-wave movement that we experience in
modern times. In the seventeenth century, women were extensively
challenged with expressing themselves in a strictly patriarchal system
that generally refused to acknowledge or grant merit to womens views
and declarations of individuality. Though modern day feminism was
nonexistent, many women and supporters expressed themselves and
the conditions they faced, often indirectly, using a variety of creative
and subversive methods. This paper takes a closer look at the literary
icon, William Shakespeare, who demonstrates himself as a feminist
through one of his most famous and beloved plays; As You Like It. Upon
a close reading of this play, I argue that through the use of comedy
and satire does Shakespeare demonstrate his feelings towards women
and society. Thus, I assert that Shakespeare should be considered a
feminist of his time. First, I present the play with a brief synopsis in
order to present the story at face value. I then give relevant
background information on the time the play was written, published
and performed to provide context of societys then - standards and

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expectations. I explain the methodology I used to go about this
analysis and argue my findings through the play. Finally, I summarize
my findings and show ways in which my research could be furthered in
the future.
As You Like it takes place in a territory in France, ruled by Duke
Frederick who has usurped the land from his eldest brother, Duke
Senior, and has exiled him prior to the start of the play. Duke Seniors
daughter, Rosalind, has been permitted to stay at court, as she is the
closest friend and confidant of Fredericks child, Celia. The play also
centers on the character of Orlando, who at first sight has fallen in love
with Rosalind when they meet before his big wrestling match, in which
she gives him her necklace as a token of luck and love. Unfortunately,
Oliver is forced to flee his home with his familys loyal servant, Adam,
after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Similarly, Rosalind
is banished as well after Frederick decides that she is not a good
influence on Celia or the court itself. In turn, Rosalind and Celia decide
to flee together accompanied by the court jester, Touchstone, and
disguise themselves as a young man named Ganymede and a young
woman named Aliena. Both parties happen to escape to the Forest of
Arden where love, chaos, and hilarity ensue.
This play was written in 1623, the Elizabethan age; an era of fullblown patriarchy that hadnt seen many glimpses of a fight for equality
out in the open. The cultural mindset that men were superior to

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women had been established centuries ago and was still in full effect,
however, many feminist agents did attempt to rise up and been seen
as equal in the eyes of society. In fact, women had been making steady
progress since Queen Elizabeth I came into power, as she became a
symbol of feminism for that time. Many women, such as Queen
Elizabeth, who came from wealthy and noble families, were
sometimes allowed the privilege of an education (Elizabethan
Women), which was a big shift in the cultural standards in the years
prior. Despite this, there was still the condition of the domination of
men that reduced all women to much lower standings. Because of this,
many artists, such as Shakespeare, attempted to reveal the beautiful
truth about women subtly through their works; that they were worthy,
they were important, and they were equal.
In order to properly analyze this play and the feminist themes
that accompany it, it was first and foremost important to carefully plan
out my methods of doing so. After reading the text once through, I
watched a couple different productions of As You Like It online that
came from esteemed play houses, such as The Globe Theater in
London. Afterwards, I read the text once more and wrote down
anything that stuck out to me in terms of gender roles, the patriarchy,
the treatment of women even a couple of things that could be
considered a stretch. Following this, I looked back on my class notes as
well as conducted extensive research of the play in terms of the time

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period it was written in order to contextualize it for my final reading,
knowing that I would be able to pull out a couple of things that I
couldnt have noticed if I had not researched the societal norms and
events surrounding this play properly. Once all of my investigation into
this time period had been completed, I read through As You Like It one
last time, whilst watching a staged production on it online and was
pleasantly surprised to find how many things I would have not picked
up had I not done my aforementioned research.
Though Shakespeare is no stranger to writing strong female roles
for his plethora of plays (Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Juliet in
Romeo and Juliet, Viola in Twelfth Night, etc.). However, it could be
argued that Rosalind is one of the most powerful of his female
protagonists as she acts with more power and authority than most of
the male figures in the play which begs the question of the time:
should her gender even have anything to do with it? The easy answer
is no, but in Elizabethan society and even society today, the way one is
perceived, especially at first glance, has mostly to do with their gender.
As Richard Schechner states referring to the construction of gender in
society, nature is not natural, or prior, but a humanly constructed
concept designed (consciously or unconsciously) to accomplish human
ends (Schechner, 151). When Rosalind is banished by Duke Frederick,
she takes advantage of this concept as she heads into the forest with
Celia and Touchstone as she is a character fully aware of her place in

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society as a women, making her an extremely socially conscious
character that Shakespeare has so carefully crafted. Many could argue
that this is very anti-feminist of her, as it could appear that she
believes in the patriarchal walls that have been put up around her and
has succumb to its limits, thus disguising herself as a man because she
believes that they are truly the higher beings. However, she dismisses
this in act one, stating:
Were it not better,
Because that I am more than common tall,
That I did suit me all points like a man?
A gallant curtal-ax upon my thigh,
A boar-spear in my hand, and in my heart
Lie there what hidden womans fear there will,
Well have a swashing and a martial outside
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances.
(1.3.121-129)
Rosalind is privy to the fact that posing as a man and appearing
masculine is merely a role that she is playing, rather than believing it
as being inherent to ones sex. She also states that there are many
mannish cowards that only pretend to be brave, therefore not
limiting fear to only women and bravery to men.
Feminism is defined as the advocacy of womens rights on the
grounds of political, social and economic equality to men, which
encapsulates Rosalind perfectly as stated in the previous example. And
as Rosalind breaks the perception of women as lesser beings
throughout the play does she further herself as a feminist character.
Schechner states that ones biological sex is raw material shaped

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through practice into the socially constructive performance that is
gender (Schechner, 151), which she proves through her and Celias
desire to go watch the wrestling match after Touchstone claims that he
doesnt believe wrestling is a sport for ladies. This is a prime example
of socially constructed performance; women do not usually watch
wrestling matches because they are steered away from it, as it is
considered a mans sport. Rosalind responds by asking, But is there
any else longs to see this broken music in his sides? Is there yet
another dotes upon rib-breaking? (1.2.131 137). She then proceeds
to defy her gender role by going to the wrestling match, refusing to act
how one may expect a female to behave.
Despite the harsh standards imposed on women during the
seventeenth century, Shakespeare chose to defy those standards by
creating Rosalind as a strong woman who is able to defy the cultural
norms even before she dresses herself as a man. Doing this,
Shakespeare covertly expresses himself as a feminist of his time,
making Rosalind not only intelligent and outspoken but also likeable.
Without her likability as a character, he could have furthered a
negative perception of women. What Shakespeare has done is subtly
present woman in a more progressive light of the time, often making
them more intelligible than the men of the play and proving that ones
skills, ideas, likes and dislikes completely disregard ones gender, and

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that women are capable of being just as worthy as their male
counterparts.
Despite the fact that As You Like It was written during a time
where feminism was pretty much non-existent and the patriarchy rose
above and beyond as a cultural norm, Shakespeare manages to display
his stance towards the equality of women through the eyes of society,
conveying that women are not only capable beings, but worthy of
being seen as such. Through his creation of strong, intelligent, and
unique character is the Bard able to convey this stance, his subtly
slowly and surely changing peoples perspectives of these women, as
they are much more than their gender. By compiling all of the
information and perspectives that I have gathered in this essay, this
research could be furthered by examining the female characters in all
of Shakespeares comprehensive works, reading closely at how they
differ from all of the ideal women of the seventeenth century. By
doing so, we can further prove that Shakespeare is in fact a feminist,
disproving many peoples theories based on conceptions about such
plays as The Taming of the Shrew, which people believe is a very
misogynistic show based on the subject matter and the treatment of its
female characters. Though the breakthrough of women in
Shakespeares time was considered taboo, writers and artists managed
to slowly and subtly change societys perspective of patriarchal society
through their art, and continue to make a lasting impact today.

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